A survey of attitudes on abortion, carried out in the
farming community in conjunction with one of Ireland’s farming organisations,
the ICMSA, was published in the Irish Examiner on Sept 22nd. According to the
survey, 64% of farmers favour amendment of Article 40.3.3, to allow for
abortion on wider grounds. 34% of respondents said they were opposed to any
changes to the Amendment and 2% of respondents chose the ‘don’t know’ option. The
question was framed as follows: “The 8th Amendment to the Constitution granted
equal rights to the mother and her unborn child. Do you think it should be
amended to allow for abortion in certain circumstances or not?”
This survey was carried out following blatant media reporting bias on the
issue during recent weeks which appears to be aimed at persuading political parties to include
removal of the pro-life amendment from the constitution in their political manifestos in the run up to the upcoming general
election.
